Professor Asa Ito is Director of the Future of Humanity Research Center at the Tokyo Institute of Technology’s Institute of Innovative Research, specializing in aesthetics. She obtained her PhD in Literature in 2010, having studied aesthetics, fine arts, and culture at the University of Tokyo Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology. As author, Dr. Ito’s major works include Me no mienai hito wa sekai wo do miteiru no ka (How Do People Without Sight See the World?, Kobunsha), Domoru karada (The Stuttering Body, Igaku-Shoin). Her work was recognized with the 42nd Suntory Prize for Social Sciences and Humanities in 2020 and 19th Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Prize in FY2022. She is also a Visiting Scholar at MIT (2019).